


Gaining Social Competence

by sweet_rabbit



Series: Gaining Social Competence [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cryptozoology, F/M, Family Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Original Character(s), Texan Keith (Voltron), he understands his little boy, i needed keith's dad to be a good dad it's bizarrely hard to come by, i'll find a way to get coran in this, just a series with no actual end, keith is the coolest five year old, keith's dad married shiro's mom, lance doesn't really know english yet, shiro goes by takashi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 00:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9793745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweet_rabbit/pseuds/sweet_rabbit
Summary: “My name is Keith and you’re going to be my friend!”The boy, Lance, looked up from his grass picking project with wide blue eyes and responded, “…Qué?”‘Kay? Keith thought. Like… “okay?” He said okay?!It was official: Keith had made a friend. His dad was going to be so proud.-Where Keith starts his criminal record early at age five and unintentionally kidnaps a kid who barely speaks English. It actually goes splendidly uphill after that.CHAPTER 6: It be Christmas! Or Three Kings Day? Lance isn't sure, but he IS sure that Keith is a present hog.





	1. Lewis to his Clark: Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> And thus I post this, declaring it to be my official procrastination piece. Gonna start that Big Bang I signed up for? Nope, think I'll post some kid fic. How about continue another story that has been sitting a while? Meh, I think I should write about kid klance instead. Yup, it'll all be here in a convenient spot. In fact, I'm already about to start chapter three AND I doodled art, too. 
> 
> http://sweet-rabbit.tumblr.com/post/157328297243/just-a-doodle-that-i-decided-to-turn-into-a-fic
> 
> It's perfect...

The woods were really different from the desert. There were trees, for one thing, and for another there were a lot of them. Cacti existed but they were definitely way more sporadic and it wasn’t smart to climb them unless you were a bird. Lizards could maybe climb up cacti, too, if they were really careful since they were kind of small. The trees didn’t dry up because it wasn’t as hot in this place, either, so everything was a lot more green. And with so many trees so close together there was also a lot of places for people and animals to hide.

Or people-animal cryptids.

“We _have_ to go!” Keith was trying to explain to his new older brother, Takashi. His dad had told him that they were officially brothers last week and so far Takashi had “officially” been a huge let down when it came to exploring and hunting monsters. “We need to find The Truth!”

“Keith, no,” Takashi finally responded. He kept pretending that he was too focused on his bicycle repairs to have heard Keith, but the five year old was nothing if not persistent. “My mom gave us strict instructions to stay in the front yard and driveway, remember? I’m sure your dad will love to take you out exploring when he’s not working but until then just… fix your big wheel, or something? Or do you want to play catch, maybe, like other kids your age?”

Keith huffed and turned around to grab his sword instead of verbally answering. It wasn’t a real sword, but it did have light up flames on it so it was at least cool and was a good practice sword for subduing monsters to study. His dad had so far only promised him his own motorcycle when he could drive. Apparently swords were harder to come by, even though Keiko had one, but insisted it wasn’t for use, only for decoration.

She had at least assured him that should it ever be needed she knew how to use it.

That was what got Keith’s approval for her marrying his dad. So far things had been fine if not boring because certain supposed older brothers would rather pretend to fix their bike than explore for the greater good. He really needed his priorities straightened out. Why Takashi was wasting his time doing nothing all because he was hoping that white haired girl down the street would come by when there were so many other important things to do was beyond Keith’s understanding.

“Takashi!” Keith heard said girl exclaim from behind him He didn’t need to turn around because he most certainly was not going to acknowledge her presence. She was the cause of his frustrations, after all.

“Oh, Allura, hey,” Takashi responded. Keith rolled his eyes at his casually surprised greeting. “What’s up?”

“Ah, just trying to find something to do,” Allura continued. “I’m stuck babysitting my little cousin, Lance, here, since him and his family just moved in with us. They all went shopping for a bed for him so guess who gets to be responsible?”

Takashi laughed way too loud and long at that.

“Yeah, I’m starting to find out what that’s like with Keith over there.” The five year old in question went over to put his sword into his bag by his big wheel. He needed to get out of there. “We’re trying to figure out what to do, too, so I figured we’d mess around with our bikes since he and Jim seem to like doing that.”

Keith was tempted to correct Takashi in that they like actually riding their bikes and getting stuff done, but his step brother was clearly a lost cause. Hence why he was formulating a plan to ditch him. Except, he wasn’t allowed to leave the house or yard on his own. That had always been a rule even before moving with Keiko and Takashi, and his dad made a good point that every good explorer needed someone to watch their back. It was good to have a buddy.

The only problem was that Keith didn’t have friends in Texas, so he definitely didn’t have friends in a place he hadn’t even lived two weeks in. His dad also made a point to assert that, no, stuffed animals and action figures did not count as explorer buddies as they are not sentient beings. Or at least they weren’t supposed to be.

“Ah, Lance!” Allura suddenly yelled. “No vayas a ensuciarte mientras juegas, no quiero tener que volver a bañarte, okay?”

Confused at whatever Allura had just said, Keith finally turned around to see what was going on. Allura herself was kneeling next to Takashi by his upturned bike. But then there was another kid in overalls and a shirt that both looked way too big for him since they were all cuffed and still sliding off of him. At the moment, he was picking at the grass, specifically the yellow flowers, and completely ignoring Allura.

Intriguing.

He looked about Keith’s age and had skin similar to Allura’s in that it was definitely darker than Keith’s. He had brown hair, though, and also wasn’t wearing any shoes. He must have been that Lance kid Allura had mentioned, her cousin or something. He looked bored. And Keith needed an Exploring Buddy, so perhaps this could work in his favor.

The true obstacle was not sneaking away from Takashi’s watch because his eyes were only on Allura, being all mushy and gross, but figuring how to “make friends” like Dad was always encouraging him to do. It wasn’t Keith’s fault that he was more goal oriented than other kids. But he was also determined. Therefore, he made sure to gather up all of him determination and dedication to cryptozoology and bottled it into approaching this kid.

With a deep breath, Keith slung his bag of supplies and his sword onto his back and marched up to his target. Stopping directly in front of him, Keith crossed his arms over his chest to assert himself and said, “My name is Keith and you’re going to be my friend!”

The boy, Lance, looked up from his grass picking project with wide blue eyes and responded, “…Qué?”

‘Kay? Keith thought. Like… “okay?” He said okay?!

It was official: Keith had made a friend. His dad was going to be so proud.

Not wasting any time, Keith ignored the happy fluttering in his chest and grabbed Lance, aka his new best friend, to haul him over to his big wheel. Luckily the seat had enough room for two people, so he quickly put his supply bag, complete with Flaming Sword, around the back of the chair before gently placing Lance on the seat itself. Then he grabbed his dad’s aviator sunglasses that he may have taken without asking. It was okay, though, since with so many trees there was a lot of shade unlike the desert, and Keith needed them more in order to show how cool he was.

He was pretty sure Lance thought he was cool since he was looking at him with big eyes and wasn’t saying much. Obviously he was too awe struck to say anything. Keith proudly puffed his chest out as he got in front of Lance, grabbed a hold of his handle bars and backed out of the driveway, Lance’s hands gripping his hoodie as they wound around Keith’s stomach.

As the two rolled down the driveway and past Allura and Takashi, neither of whom spared them a glance, Keith for the first time since moving to this new town thought that maybe things will turn out as great as his dad had claimed after all.

-

“Wow, Takashi, it’s really cool that you can fix your own bike!” Allura gushed. Takashi ducked his head, acting like he was tightening a nut on the wheel, even though it was tight enough about ten minutes ago. “I wouldn’t be able to do much if my bike got busted.”

“I mean, I can’t say I’m a professional or anything but if that happened I would definitely try for you,” he said.

Allura smiled brightly and Takashi could feel his heart thumping so loud he was sure she could hear it. By far, the move had been hard but Allura had made it much better, quickly becoming his first friend there. He was hoping she could be more, though he wasn’t sure how to go about it. Then again, since she now had a cousin living with her who was Keith’s age, maybe that could be a good excuse to be over at her house?

Speaking of…

Takashi glanced over to where Keith’s big wheel was last parked since that was what he assumed was what was keeping the kid so quiet, in that he was messing around with it. Or that light up sword he liked to swing around. His pounding heart quickly went into overdrive, however, when he saw that not only was the big wheel gone but also Keith, his legal little brother of barely a week as well as his responsibility for at least an hour and it had only been around twenty minutes.

Whipping his head around to face Allura, she shared a look of equally dawning horror on her face with him, telling Takashi all he needed to know: Keith had kidnapped Lance and he was never going to date Allura now because Jim was going to kill him.

-


	2. Lewis to his Clark: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *attempts to whistle* Y'all really like kid fic, huh? Suffice to say this is definitely the highest amount of feedback I've gotten so far on AO3 by a landslide so that's pretty cool, thank y'all for that! Here's another doodle :D
> 
> http://sweet-rabbit.tumblr.com/post/157498882888/keith-showing-off-for-a-confused-lance-from
> 
> Can't say I'll draw something for every chapter as that's a big commitment but I hadn't drawn anything for a couple of days and was like, meh, draw kid klance again it's fun. So there's that and now part 2.

It was slow goings, as his dad would say, on Keith’s way to finding The Truth. Partly it was because he needed to take in his surroundings, make mental notes of important location details to avoid getting lost. The other part was that he was going slower than he normally would due to his passenger making things a bit heavier. That was okay, though. From what Allura had said, it sounded like Lance was also new to town and so probably wanted to rubber neck, as well. Whatever that meant.

“We’re going to look for cryptids,” Keith finally informed his new best friend. “You know what those are?”

Lance only let out a hum.

Kid was a quiet one, it seemed. That was okay.

“Cryptids are weird monster things,” he continued to explain as they made a right turn. He must have made it too sharp, though, since Lance tightened his grip on Keith’s hoodie. The driver noted that perhaps he should be more careful, Lance might not be used to the fast lane. “There are different ones all over the world, but America has a ton. There’s Bigfoot and Skunkape which are kind of the same thing but not. Like gorillas and chimpanzees. They’re cousins. They have another cousin in Russia, I think? That’s a Yeti, it prefers the snow. There’s also sea monsters, but here we only got Champ. The Lock Ness Monster is in Scotland but Champ is better because the photo is cooler. Oh, when we were in Texas, where me and Dad lived before he got married, he took me to see a chupacabra at the gas station!”

“E-El chupacabra?” Lance stuttered from behind him. Keith quickly brightened at this. He had finally gotten a response from him, and it sounded like Lance was familiar with at least one cryptid. Running away from Takashi and Allura with Lance was shaping up to be a better plan than he thought it would.

“Yeah! That one only seems to live in deserts and eat goats and chickens. The chupacabra Dad took me to see kind of looked like a coyote dog thing but then I’ve also seen documentaries where they had pictures and drawings of the chupacabra and they looked like lizards. I don’t know, I think I  need to study more and take notes and stuff. Is the chupacabra your favorite?”

No response except a sniff. Rude.

“Hey, I asked about the chupacabra? Is it your-?”

“ME QUIERO IR A CASA, NO QUIERO QUE EL CHUPACABRAS ME COMAAAAAA!”

Okay, so the kid wasn’t so quiet after all.

Keith quickly pulled the big wheel over and pushed his dad’s aviators up onto his head as he turned around to see what was wrong, as well as the get away from Lance screaming in his ear. Sure enough, his friend was bawling his eyes out as he still kept an iron grip on Keith’s hoodie, twisting it funny. Keith was confused. Weren’t they just bonding over the chupacabra? Why was Lance crying? Unless…

Thinking quickly, Keith reached around Lance and stuck his hand into his bag, blindly rummaging around until he pulled out his bag of goldfish crackers. He held them up to Lance while giving them a little shake to get his attention, and also made sure to pry the boy’s hand off of his hoodie. Lance calmed down a bit once he saw the snack being offered to him and gently took the baggie into his own hands. As he slowly began eating them, still sniffling and hiccupping a bit, Keith got up and grabbed his Flaming Sword before positioning himself in front of Lance.

Once he had the other boy’s attention, Keith got into position and sliced his sword down in front of him, dead center. He then spun around with it sideways, cutting through any possible enemy that was trying to sneak up on him. He followed this with a leap into the air, complete with a battle cry, and brought his sword down hard onto the bush a few times, effectively throwing a bunch of leaves onto the ground.

Turning around with a proud smile on his face, Keith proclaimed, “And that’s what I’ll do if any chupacabra comes to get us! HIYA!” For emphasis to his point, Keith stabbed his sword to the side as if he were gutting a chupacabra through its stomach. Clearly Lance and his family had moved to this town due to a chupacabra attack that frightened the other boy. Keith was determined to protect his friend from the both the dog AND the lizard chupacabras and he had the sword skills to prove it.

The show seemed to be enough to reassure Lance because, with cheeks stuffed full of goldfish crackers, he began clapping. Satisfied that his new best friend was happy and felt safe, as he should always be, Keith sheathed his Flaming Sword back into his bag, then stopped beside Lance.

He had cracker crumbs and freckles on his cheeks.

“I like you freckles,” he said as he poked Lance’s cheek, making the other boy squeak.

Keith returned his aviators to over his eyes before sitting back down in front of Lance to continue their journey. Lance’s arms came back around his waist, this time with the baggie of crackers shaking a bit, as if he was offering.

Keith gladly stuffed his mouth with a handful before taking off down the sidewalk once again.

-

“He was riding a big wheel, wasn’t he?!” Allura had to shout behind Takashi on her own bike. “Wouldn’t we have heard that?!”

“Yes!” Takashi answered. “Except when Jim works on his bike Keith likes to play that he’s fixing his big wheel and I think that he told me that Keith insisted that he hated how noisy it was and it meant it was broken or something, I don’t know, point is Jim oiled it for him!”

“Who does that?!”

“The man who married my mother, apparently!”

The two thirteen year olds were hastily making their way down the neighborhood streets in desperate search for the runaways. It seemed that the two were deeper into each other than they were babysitting because you would think it wouldn’t take any time at all to find two kids on a big wheel, yet there they were, still riding like maniacs up and down the roads.

Takashi pulled over to quickly check the time on his phone. It was around 5:30, which meant that his mom had probably started dinner which would keep her in the house for a while as opposed to going outside to check on them. Not to mention she wouldn’t have to since Takashi was watching Keith so everything was fine.

Yeah…

Jim, meanwhile, would be getting home somewhere around 6:15 so that would at least give them plenty of time to find the kids on their own, assuming Allura’s family took as long as she claimed they did when shopping. With a sigh, Takashi went to mount his bike again, but was stopped by a weird puttering sound.

“You hear that?” he asked Allura.

The girl squinted her eyes a bit before exclaiming, “Matt!” and rising up on her bike to pedal down the road and do a sideways slide in front of some motorized bicycle. Takashi, meanwhile, was trying to lift his jaw off the ground from the display of coolness to go join her.

“Matt, hold up!” Allura was saying when he pedaled up beside her. “We need to ask you something super important!”

This “Matt” guy turned off the engine of all things on his bike and took off his helmet, shaking out shaggy, chestnut colored hair, before sliding on a pair of glasses. Takashi noticed that there was a toddler in a seat behind him who looked nearly identical to this guy, only was about three years old and had a flower barrette in her hair.

“Who’s the new guy?” Matt asked as he jerked his thumb over to Takashi.

“I’m, uh, Takashi Shirogane,” he replied. “I just moved here with my mom and step dad and his son and, um, your bike is really cool, where did you get it?”

“From the junk yard. I built the rest of it myself with other parts.”

“Seriously?! Dude, that is amazing! How fast can it go?”

“Mm, only up to 30 mph, but that’s just because Dad didn’t want me to endanger me or Pidge, here. It’s pretty lame in that regards, ‘cause like, I don’t know why he thinks I’m going to go off a cliff or something, right?”

“That’s still crazy fast for a basic bike. Have you ever tested it out in a field or something? I would be down to-”

“Focus, nerds!” Allura butted in. “Matt, we’re looking for two five year old boys, a Latino and Asian, theoretically on a big wheel. Have you seen any kids fitting this description, yes or no?!”

“Uuuuuuuh-”

“What part of ‘yes or no’ do you not understand?!”

“Alright, alright, geez!” Matt shot a quick glare at Pidge who was finding this entire exchange hilarious. “I didn’t necessarily see two kids specifically but I did see someone that was probably a kid behind some bushes since they had a light up sword and was whacking at them like a loon.”

“Keith!” Takashi happily exclaimed. “Matt, please, where was this?!”

“Like, the opposite way you guys were going.”

With a quick thanks, the two irresponsible preteens booked it in the opposite direction. Hopefully, Keith and Lance were still in position.

-

Keith and Lance had long ditched the big wheel and were now in some forest area. Luckily, Keith was smart and covered the bike in order to keep it camouflaged from possible thieves. His dad had shown him how, knowing that his son would need it for times like these, aka when he was hunting. He didn’t specify cryptids but Keith trusted his dad understood him. They had lived together, just the two of them, his whole life, after all.

Except for now. Now they had Keiko and Takashi…

Slashing especially hard at another low hanging branch, Keith stood aside and ushered Lance ahead. Admittedly, he wasn’t too sure what they were looking for in regards to clues of Mothman’s presence in the area, but it was important that Lance didn’t get his clothes caught on anything. They looked old and kind of beat up as it was. He was sure that if one of the oversized sleeves got snagged on a branch the entire thing would unravel.

“So I figure,” Keith started as he shifted his eyes side to side for danger, “that if Mothman were here, then there would be a lot of moths, right?”

Lance glanced over his shoulder at the boy and put another goldfish cracker in his mouth.

“Right! So we find the moths around a cave or something, we’ll surely find Mothman since he’s probably their leader or something. We’ll have to stay out here a while since moths come out at night. But don’t worry, I brought a flashlight so we can find ‘em.”

“Find what?”

Whirling around, Keith jumped in front of Lance, brandishing his sword at the intruder. It turned out to be another boy, also darker skinned then Keith, along with being bigger and wore an orange bandana. A possible sign of a fellow explorer. However, it was best to be cautious when it comes to strangers.

“Halt!” he commanded. “I am Keith and this is my best friend, Lance! We’re explorers looking for The Truth!”

The boy stared at them for a moment and scratched his side as he appeared to think.

“Well,” he started, “my name’s Hunk, this is my backyard and I’m pretty sure we don’t have any, uh, ‘truth’ or whatever you’re talking about… I got Legos, wanna play?”

“LEGOS!” Lance suddenly shouted from behind Keith, quickly running past both of the boys.

Looking at where Lance was headed, sure enough there was a house just past some of the trees ahead. Clearly they were nowhere near any caves, so the current mission was probably a bust. Nonetheless, they could still maybe study the moths of the area before they sought after caves. Probably for the best, too, as Mothman was bigger than normal moths since he was also a man. Keith wasn’t sure how well trained Lance was at hand to hand combat, after all.

“They’re space Legos, mostly,” Hunk added as he followed Lance out of the woods and towards his house, Keith not far behind. “That okay?”

Break time with space Legos it was, then. That was acceptable.

Not to mention Keith’s friend count had risen to two in the span of an hour.

This kid was on a roll.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't edited as thoroughly as I normally would for such a short chapter... later, it shall be done later... 
> 
> Translations:
> 
> “ME QUIERO IR A CASA, NO QUIERO QUE EL CHUPACABRAS ME COMAAAAAA!” (I want to go home, I don’t want the chupacabra to eat meeeeee!)


	3. Lewis to his Clark: Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all know how this is a procrastination piece? Well, I finally did most of the stuff I was procrastinating, hence this later than anticipated update/conclusion to this arc (let's see, did my taxes, fixed work schedule, submitted my voltron big bang exert, got cat to the vet then stressed over her for 4 days despite her being fine, got papers to renew license, made important e-mails and a phone call... yup, almost everything done... I got a big trip in April is what most of all this is)
> 
> Once again, thank you guys so much for all of the kudos and comments and bookmarks and hits! Y'all are rad~!

-

Hunk was definitely a great addition to Keith’s ever expanding friend group. Not only did he have super cool space Legos, but he also made them into even cooler ships and stations and even planets. He was super smart at building stuff and was fine with Lance wrecking them when he would crash his own… maybe space ship, Keith wasn’t sure what the weird form of blocks actually was. Point was, he really liked crashing them into other Lego stuff.

“I like breaking them, too!” the third boy had said when Keith almost started to scold Lance on his poor guest behavior. Hunk proceeded to also throw what he said was a bomb onto the space station, making sure to evacuate the citizens prior to the attack. “I can’t make new stuff if I don’t break the old stuff. My parents said that I have enough Legos, so I have to use these over.”

“Do you have enough to make a tiger trap?” Keith asked.

“No. But I have an Easy Bake Oven. It makes cakes.”

“CAKE!” Lance yelled, making the other two boys jump and look at him with widened eyes. Lance shrunk back a little bit with both of their attention on him and focused his eyes on his mass of blue connected Legos. “Cake, ah… good?”

“Si! Bien!”

Keith whipped his head around to Hunk so fast that he was sure it would have snapped. Instead, he was subjected to Lance nearly tackling their new friend in joy, repeating “cake” and “good” while Hunk laughed along and nodded his head. Lance hadn’t tackle hugged him at all and they were best friends, definitely way longer than Hunk had been their friend. Keith was first so shouldn’t he get the first hug? That aside, how did Hunk know how to properly communicate with their mutual friend?

“Hey,” Keith grunted, only to be ignored. “HEY!”

The second one got their attention. Hunk looked concerned while Lance smiled at him like some sort of cat. Much better.

“Um… what did you guys just say?”

“Oh,” Hunk said, back to having a cheerful smile. “I just said ‘yes’ and ‘good,’ or at least I’m pretty sure I did. I don’t know too much Spanish except for some computer and nature stuff. Don’t you watch ‘Dora the Explorer?’”

“No, she’s a poser.”

“I don’t know what that means. You say weird stuff, but that’s okay ‘cause I like you!”

Keith had been ready to reply with something super cool to counteract Hunk’s statement, but hearing that the other boy liked him made him back down. He hadn’t ever had anybody say that, or at least in English in regards to Lance. Speaking of, the other boy had once again started occupying himself with throwing Legos while making gun and explosion noises. Keith hoped that Lance liked him, too.

Maybe he should rethink his stance on “Dora the Explorer.”

-

“… Maybe we need to tell our parents,” Allura sullenly admitted as her and Takashi sat on the sidewalk. The two each had their head in their hands, the sure sign a defeated soldier. It had been over half an hour and they hadn’t been able to find a single trace of the lost kids even after Matt’s help.

Takashi merely offered a grunt in response. He knew fully well that this was getting into dangerous territory and it was best to tell the adults what had happened before anything really bad could occur, heaven forbid. It was still difficult, however, knowing how much trouble he was going to be in, along with Allura.

The two exchanged sad looks before once again getting on their bikes. 

-

The sun had started to set a bit and so Keith decided it was best to take Lance home. Hunk’s mom had also come out to say that dinner was almost ready and to offer Hunk a chance to help out a bit, only to suddenly question who his two new friends were. After introductions and Mrs. Garrett informing them that they were always welcomed, she highly suggested they head home before it got dark.

It should be noted that she didn’t see them travel to the back of the house to head through the woods and had assumed that they had shown up from down the street. Had this been the case, it is assured that she would have offered to drive them herself and/or call their parents.

But Keith could handle it.

Case in point, the big wheel was exactly where he had hidden it. Everything was fine, thank you!

So after good bye hugs from Hunk and a million reassurances to play again soon, or at least that’s what they assumed Lance was babbling about, Keith took his best friend and once again made sure he was situated on the big wheel before getting on it himself. This time Lance grabbed a hold of him without hesitation and even kicked his feet a bit while giggling in anticipation of their trip. Keith smiled as he placed his aviators back on, taking comfort in seeing that Lance had had fun that day. Keith had had fun, too, so this was possibly the best day of his life.

“Hey, Lance?” he quietly started.

“Hm?” the other boy responded, pausing in whatever song he had been singing.

“I’m sorry I don’t what you’re saying. But, um, I had fun today and… and I’ve never had a friend before and now I have two so that’s really cool. So I guess you’re cool and I like playing with you and talking with you. Okay?” Keith twisted a bit to look behind him to give Lance a smile, hoping he would understand that what he said was good stuff and not stuff making fun of him. Which, if anybody ever did make fun of Lance, Keith would definitely defend his friend to the bitter end. And he knew Hunk would join in, too. He didn’t seem like a fighter but he was big so he could probably be intimidating, at least.

“Eres gracioso (You’re funny),” Lance finally said. “MAS RÁPIDO, KEITH! Quiero ser tan veloz como un correcaminos! (Go faster, Keith! I wanna go super-fast, like a roadrunner bird!)”

At Lance’s sudden bucking, Keith quickly understood that Lance apparently liked him, too, and also wanted him to speed up. With a devilish grin, Keith put the petal to the metal and zoomed down the tiny hill of the side walk, Lance screeching in delight with his face buried in Keith’s hoodie the whole time.

Afterwards, they slowed down a bit and Lance started his singing up again. It was pretty nice, just the two of them, riding into the setting sun, like two cowboys. It made Keith’s chest flutter, he was so happy.

“Hey, buddy,” a new voice suddenly interrupted his happiness. “Where ya’ headin’?”

A glance to his side showed none other than Keith’s Dad in his truck, slowly chugging alongside the two boys while leaning out his window. He had an eyebrow raised, the one with the scar in the middle of it, and looked like he was about to start laughing at Keith. He didn’t appreciate that. Therefore, he merely turned his head back forward to show he was super focused and couldn’t be bothered.

“To Lance’s house,” he curtly answered since he was asked, after all. It was only polite. “I’m taking him home.”

“Uh huh. And is this little boy behind you 'Lance?'”

Lance had stopped his singing again and was now looking back and forth between Keith and his dad at hearing his name repeatedly. It was probably best to introduce the two.

“Yes,” Keith said. “Lance this is Dad, Dad this is Lance.”

His Dad, ever the gentleman, broadly grinned and waved at the other boy. “Nice to meet you, Lance, you can call me Mr. Jim!”

“He only speaks Spanish, Dad,” Keith tiredly explained. Honestly…

“Oh, okay. Lance, habla Inglés?"

“Ah, no, Señor?” Lance quickly answered. Keith, meanwhile, huffed in annoyance. Since when did his dad know Spanish? And more importantly, why didn’t Keith know Spanish? It was crucial for him to properly discuss future plans with best friends!

“Esta bien,” his dad continued while pointing to himself. “Mr. Jim. Keith’s papa. Okay?”

“Okay!”

Lance seemed to know little words and apparently “okay” was somewhat universal. It wasn’t important, though, so long as Lance and his dad got along that was good. And if Lance’s overly excited thumbs up that made the big wheel swerve a bit was any indication, things were good.

“Do you know where Lance lives, Keith?”

Or not so good.

“… No,” Keith mumbled.

“Sorry, say that again?”

“No, sir, I do not know where Lance lives! But that’s okay, because he’ll just point when we pass his house eventually. Or he can sleep over.”

“Don’t think so, buddy, sorry.”

Keith growled at this. Yes, he literally growled. “Why?”

“You’re a smart kid. Put two and two together and then tell me-”

“KEITH!”

“OH MY GOD, LANCE!”

Both Keith and Jim stopped their vehicles to see Takashi and Allura speeding towards the two five year olds. Takashi practically fell over his bike dismounting it in order to get to his younger step brother while Allura at least leaped off of hers to leave it in a hedge while rushing to her cousin. The four of them were all quickly enveloped into a group hug of relieved cries of thankfulness, completely ignoring the man looking on in amusement from his truck.

“Don’t ever do that again, Keith!” Takashi exclaimed. “I had no idea where you were, you were supposed to stay in the yard!”

“Why aren’t you in the yard?” Keith countered.

“Better question,” Jim butted in, making Takashi go pale as he suddenly noticed the truck. “Why aren’t either of you in the yard? Specifically, why was Keith alone with some kid I’ve never met before barely five minutes ago?”

Takashi looked like a fish, if you asked Keith, with the way he kept opening and closing his mouth. Meanwhile, Allura kept looking between Jim and Takashi as if debating if she should say something or not. Keith wasn’t too sure, but it looked and sounded like they were in trouble. Probably himself, too, judging by his dad’s previous leading questions, but he wouldn’t bring it up and hopefully his dad would be too distracted by Takashi’s punishment to remember his own. Lance was probably fine, nobody had to know that he was Keith’s partner in crime. And besides, Keith would take the fall for him.

That’s what best friends do… or so he was told.

While the truck idled, Jim drummed his fingers on the steering wheel before sighing. “Alright,” he said. “Toss those bikes in the bed, I’m takin’ y’all home.”

With a few thank you’s from the older kids, while Allura introduced herself to Jim as Lance’s cousin, the four quickly made their way into the truck only barely just fitting since Keith and Lance were so small. They even got to sit in the front seat, with Keith helping Lance up the steps and into the middle seat, only because Takashi and Allura took the back first and because they were only driving in a neighborhood. On the highway Keith wasn’t allowed to sit in the front and still had to be in a car seat, anyway, which was why the now mainly drove Keiko’s car.

Keith didn’t like Keiko’s car, it didn't smell right.

“So!” Jim suddenly exclaimed, making the two in the back sit up straight. “What were you two boys up to, exactly?”

“We were playing with Hunk,” Keith answered for Lance and himself.

“Oh, right, okay. Now who’s Hunk?”

“He’s our other friend and he has lots of space Legos. He lives past some trees that don’t have a lot of moths, so that’s a darn shame. But he was really nice and his mom, Mrs. Garrett, was nice, too, and said we could play again. Can we?”

“Wait, Garrett?” Allura suddenly asked from behind them. “My dad works with them, they live in the neighborhood behind this one.”

“Really?” Jim whistled. He side eyed Keith while Takashi groaned. “You kids sure made some tracks, huh? So, uh, tell me… what was Takashi doing before you and Lance went off explorin’?”

“Ugh! He was making stupid faces with Allura and not wanting to go explorin’ or nuthin’, it was SO boring! I _had_ to leave, and Lance agrees!”

Jim snorted and looked over at Lance who just grinned up at him. Takashi sounded like he was shuffling as far down into the car seat as he could while Allura giggled.

“Oh, um, here’s our house, Mr. Jim,” she spoke up. There was also a small relieved sigh that escaped her upon seeing that the cars were still gone. “Thank you for driving me and Lance home! Lance, dale las gracias a Keith y despídete (Lance, say ‘thank you’ and bye to Keith).”

“Gracias!” Lance chirped before undoing his seat belt. As Allura climbed out to go get her bike from the bed of the truck, Lance tumbled over Keith’s lap and flung his arms around the boy’s neck. “Me divertí mucho, me gustaría jugar de nuevo! Tengo muñecos de luchadores, también te dejare acariciar a Blue, es mi peluche favorito!!!... Tal vez, quizás... Adiós!! (I have a lot of fun, i would like to play again! I have wrestling figures, and I will let you pet Blue, it's my favorite plushie!!... Maybe, perhaps.... Bye)”

Keith could barely wave after that, Lance being a whirlwind of activity and zooming down his driveway with Allura fussing behind him. He kept his eye on him until their front door shut and his dad had to lean over to close the truck’s door himself. Keith didn’t miss the small chuckle the man was failing to hide, nor did he miss the not so subtle finger wiggles while he held hand palm up in front of Keith’s face. With an annoyed sigh, the boy relinquished the aviator sunglasses back to their owner.

“You really like Lance,” Jim stated as he started the truck back up.

“Yeah, I guess,” Keith mumbled as he gazed out the window. It was a lot higher up without his car seat. It was almost like he was flying if he thought about it.

“So he and this Hunk kid your best friends now?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. It’s different with Lance.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I feel like I’m gonna throw up but in a good way.”

“Ooooh, I see… Hey, Takashi, does being with Allura make you want to throw up in a good way, too?”

“Jim, please,” said boy whispered from the back. “Just let me out of this truck so you can run over me. I’ll even give you written permission.”

“Nope, we need you to babysit for your mom and me. It’s way cheaper to keep you alive!”

Takashi made more dying animal noises as they pulled up to their own house. Keith was happy to see that they didn’t live too far from Lance’s house, so maybe it would be easier to get there without Takashi or anyone tagging along as dead weight. Maybe they could even have sleep overs? Keith had never had one before and Hunk would have to come, too, of course. It could be space themed since they all liked that.

“Dad, do sleep overs have to have themes?” he asked as he jumped out of the truck all on his own. His landing was perfect, by the way.

“No, but it does make them more fun if there is. Oh look, Keiko was waiting for us!”

Takashi made to jump back into the truck, only to be snagged back by Jim. Sure enough, Keiko was sitting on the front porch, her eyes on them like a hawk and a glass of that red wine stuff in her hand.

After a long discussion, Takashi was grounded for a week while Keith wasn’t allowed any dessert that night.

Life was unfair, but at least he now had two friends to complain about it to.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, currently barely edited... next chapter will be the scene I first thought of that started this fic. I aim to upate on either Mondays or Thursdays, btw. I like those days.
> 
> ALSO! In regards to translations (thank you once again, yisusfishus ; 3;), is it easier to read them in the fic or as a note at the end? Thank you! :D


	4. The Life and Struggles of Takashi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while... it's been a while for a lot of my fics. Previous end chapter note of Monday and Thursday posts was a lie. Also, you guys give me such sweet comments, I love you all <3

-

If you asked Takashi, mowing the lawn without getting paid to do so as part of his punishment wasn’t all that bad. It was surprisingly relaxing and he was able to let his mind wander into silly fantasies and what-ifs. More than likely it was due to it being somewhat of a mindless task. All you had to do was make sure you didn’t leave any gaps of grass between sections, but that could be taken care of afterwards. It wasn’t like watching a five year old who was into cryptid hunting and Korean dramas.

The second one was apparently an ill-advised attempt for Keith to connect to his deceased mother’s culture, or something.

Whatever, point was, Takashi wasn’t about to let his mother or Jim find out that this punishment was anything but. Instead, he was going to thank the stars that hopefully he wouldn’t have to deal with the stress of babysitting Keith or any other small child anytime soon seeing how he had proven himself irresponsible.

“Takashi! I need you to watch Keith and Lance!”

The young teen was sure that his step father was a good man deep down, but he was having trouble seeing it.

Turning off the lawn mower, Takashi tiredly turned to Jim with nothing but concern in his voice. “Why?” he practically moaned.

“Because I need to get a piano,” Jim responded as he tugged on his coat, his keys dangling from his mouth.

“Again, why?”

“Because it’s old and there’s some wood I can salvage from it, boy, keep up!”

Takashi could not, though he wasn’t worried about that. “But WHY are you trusting me to look after not only Keith but also Lance, who, may I remind you, barely speaks English and I barely speak Spanish? Isn’t that what I’m currently grounded for, being untrustworthy to deal with small children?!”

“Yup!” Practically spitting his keys into his hand, Jim spun on his heel to fully face his step son. “But see, I figure that a main portion of that there slip up of yours had somethin’ more to do with a young miss that was a bit of a distraction for ya’. So takin’ that outta the equation makes me wonder if I should do a bit of a’ experiment here now that I gotta take advantage of current time restraints so good luck to ya’, I will take full responsibility should your mom not agree with this, okay BYE!”

Jim had already climbed into his truck and started it up by the time he finished his explanation, leaving Takashi dumbfounded by his step father. He was seriously risking his son’s and another younger boy’s safety in order to get his hands on wood scraps from a piano, more than likely listed on craigslist.

He did say he’d take responsibility if Mom got pissed, he thought to himself. So just deal with the stress for the next hour until she gets home, I guess. Maybe my punishment will end early and I can hang out with Allura and maybe that Matt guy sooner than expected?

Before going back to mowing, though, he first needed to take stock of where the two gremlins were located. Making his way towards the, thankfully, fenced in back yard (he was pretty sure Keith wasn’t able to climb over it and the squeaky door would guarantee Takashi stood a decent chance of hearing it open) he sure enough saw the two throwing a glider plane around with varying degrees of success. Keith was barking orders at Lance who very obviously was not paying attention. Takashi guessed that even if he could understand all of what his friend was saying, the boy would probably be behaving the same.

“Hey, Keith?” he started, leaning over the fence. “Did your dad tell you I’m in charge right now?”

“Yeah!” his little brother snapped. “He has to get a piano to fix the table- LANCE, no! You’re throwin’ it wrong! Here, like this…”

Clearly Keith was unconcerned when there was the more pressing matter of showing Lance another incorrect way of throwing the glider in an attempt to make it fly. Admittedly the bossy little thing seemed to be doing a better job than his friend, but that wasn’t saying much. Takashi, for a moment, debated joining them to try and teach them the correct method for the toy, but decided it was best to first finish the chore he was given. Afterwards, he would probably play with the two boys if they wanted him to in order to keep a closer eye on them. There wasn’t too much left to mow of the lawn, so the rest of the time their parents were out should be spent making sure the five year olds stayed where they were supposed to.

With that super mature decision and a mental pat on the back, Takashi returned to the front yard and continued mowing, once again letting his mind wander.

Allura was the obvious first thought to come to his mind, nobody had to know that.

It hadn’t even been a month of his combined family living in their new house and town, but Allura had quickly put herself snuggly into Takashi’s life and he knew he was a complete goner for the beautiful, rebellious girl. With her silver dyed hair and piercings all around her ears, not to mention her confiding in him that she planned to get a nose piercing later as well as tattoos, Takashi was pretty much 90% sure he was completely smitten with the girl. He still wasn’t sure what he could do to impress her, outside of agreeing that he, too, wanted to get tattoos, but part of the problem was also trying to get close to her to begin with. She seemed to have a lot of family obligations considering how large said family was, so she was frequently busy. He would have to figure out how to get himself into those family things without being creepy (not being creepy can be difficult in early puberty, by the way, so this is a difficult and delicate task).

It was when he looked behind himself to check on his lawn work that Takashi was struck with a brilliant idea. He could start a lawn mowing business! He hadn’t noticed any other teen offering in the neighborhood, and aside from earning extra money and brownie points with his mom, that might put him in good graces with Allura’s family. Especially considering how surprisingly well he was doing when taking in the fact that this was the first time he had worked a lawn mower.

Awesome, Takashi thought. All I have to really do is make some posters and hand them out to people, maybe add in my newly combined family for sympathy points? Or not, Mom might be pissed if she heard that I was using them for business and then they also might want to meet Keith and the kid is cute but a little creepy and might start interrogating them on-

“TAKI!!!”

Takashi was thrown out of his planning by a wild Lance suddenly running right in front of the lawn mower, in tears. Thankfully, the older boy wasn’t going at a fast pace but it was still startling and he ended up veering the mower into a weird turn and ruining his method. However, there were more important matters at hand. One was why was Lance crying and two was how the hell did he get over the fence?!

The crying thing would be taken care of first, of course.

“Lance?!” he practically yelled over the kid’s babbling and sobbing. “Lance, what’s wrong, uh, sad? Why?!”

GOD, he needed to learn Spanish. Allura might be impressed by that, too, and-NO! No, Lance was the focus here.

Lance finally looked up at Takashi before slamming himself in his legs to rub snot all over his jeans and continue his incomprehensible ranting. He was able to really only understand “Keith” over and over again, even though the little boy pronounced it more like “Keh-eet” and it was adorable, but other than that Takashi was getting nothing.

Luckily, by him already knowing what Keith was like, Takashi came to the conclusion that Keith was being a bossy little jerk and as the older brother in charge, Takashi needed to straighten him out.

“Alright, alright,” he said as he patted Lance’s head, “Let’s go straighten Mr. Bossy Pants out, okay? Ah, Keith?” He pointed towards that back yard at that, and Lance quickly nodded, grabbing Takashi’s hand to drag him to the problem.

Only, there was another problem once they reached the back: there was no Keith to fuss at.

“Keith?” Takashi called out, to no answer. Lance, meanwhile, was still sniffling and was now pointing to the large tree in the near middle of the fenced in area. He also started making hand motions as if he was throwing something…

“Oh! Lance, do you mean the glider? Your plane is in the tree?” To try and help, he started to also make throwing motions and pointed to the tree, too.

Lance nodded furiously and Takashi quickly came to the conclusion that Keith had thrown the glider into the tree, it got stuck, and so then the kid was hiding to avoid punishment. More than likely in his tiny bunker he had made in his room, complete with a “no zombies allowed” sign. His mother had helped with that sign, the entire concept was painful.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Takashi made his way to get the ladder, after again trying to pantomime to Lance what he was doing to ease his concerns, and brought it back to the tree. He then made his way up, eyes scanning around to see where the plane might have gotten snagged. It wasn’t too far up when he caught sight of something in the branch above him. Thanking the fact that despite Keith’s best efforts there were limits to a five year old’s abilities, Takashi hopped up two more steps and reached out for what he thought was the glider.

Only to grab Keith’s tiny hand.

Who was desperately clinging for dear life onto Takashi’s own hand and the branch he was hugging.

Then he hissed at him.

“HIIIIIIIIISS!”

“… Keith… why?”

-

Takashi’s mother ended up coming home before Jim. Not too much of a surprise to the boy, he figured Jim would get distracted or try to haggle with whatever dealer he had tracked down. He just seemed the type. Takashi, meanwhile, was raking the excess grass into a bag to possibly compost later. If he wanted to convince his mom that he could handle a lawn mowing business, he had to make sure their own lawn was nice and tidy.

“Hey, Mom,” he said over his shoulder. “You’re home kind of early.”

“Yeah, my client had to leave to pick up their kid,” Keiko responded. She sounded distracted, but Takashi was pretty sure he knew what she was distracted by and so didn’t bother turning around. Unless she asked him to do so, of course. “Takashi?”

There it was.

“Yeah?”

“Care to explain why Keith is tied up like a dog on the porch?”

Sliding his eyes over to the kid, he noticed that Keith had switched from trying to saw the rope off with his plastic sword to simply biting it. Lance was still clinging onto him as if he didn’t Keith would try to scale a tree again, with similarly terrible results. And honestly? It was probably true.

“His toy glider plane got stuck in a tree and then he got stuck and Jim went to go get a piano to fix the table for scraps and I’m trying to start my own business and I just… I can’t deal with this right now, Mom, I just can’t…”

Takashi gave his mother the most pitiful look he could muster which wasn’t too hard considering the crap he had to go through to get Keith down (kid kept shouting about how he was embarrassing him and that he could handle it, while trying to kick Takashi in the face). Keiko, in turn, nodded and made her way over to the little trouble maker who saw her coming and began hissing at her, also. Takashi considered being a good older brother and advising Keith that that was probably the worst idea he could have come up with, but decided it best that his little brother not be coddled and also learn what happens when the vein on the side of Keiko’s neck starts to pop.

Besides, he could see Allura making her way down their street.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Half of this was written in Japan and I'm jet lagged as hell but now have a furious fire lit in me to work there. Hopefully it doesn't burn out... I'm gonna pass out now.


	5. Realization of the Cruelness in Our World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoo hoo~ It's me~
> 
> Back with Ultra Southern Baby Keith who gets that accent goin' when speaking with his dad 'cause that's how it is with me and my mother. Now with ten times more depression thanks to yisusfishus. Love ya' lady!

-

Keith was starting kindergarten. Or at least that was what he was told. It was dangerous, and he was going to have to go without his family, but luckily they were given a list of needed supplies. That was good insight as to whether or not this place cared for their own. He even got to pick out the colors of specific ones, not so much pencils, though, and apparently his hippo backpack wasn’t big enough to hold binders books and all of his other stuff so he would have to get a new one. In the meantime he had to deposit the cheese puffs into the store cart.

“No, Keith, no” his dad said, making to grab them from Keith’s tiny death grip. “I don’ told ya’, boy, no more cheese puffs.”

“I don’t get it,” Keiko said from behind the cart. “He doesn’t sneak food and is good at small portions. Cheese puffs are also good school snacks. What is up with this rule?”

“Trust me, hon’, we don’t want ‘em. T’ain’t nothin’ but trouble, them puffs.”

“... You are a very silly man, Jim.”

Keiko then proceeded to lean over and kiss Jim’s cheek, meaning it was time for Takashi to groan in embarrassment, giving Keith ample opportunity to bury the cheese puffs beneath a pile of pencils and pens.

“You guys, seriously?” Takashi predictably started. “We’re in public and shopping for school supplies! How is this an appropriate time for flirting?”

“You’ll understand when you’re older,” Keiko said while patting Jim’s cheek, who was purposely grinning like an idiot.

“I need a binder,” Keith announced. Takashi did have a bit of a point, they were on a mission for supplies. Keith had to be ready.

“Ya’ sure do!” Jim responded. “Okay, so they’re like a book without paper an’ it’s got three rings in it. ‘S a plastic folder, got it?”

“Got it!”

Keith nearly sprinted down the aisle of colorful school related items, his eyes shifting back and forth looking for whatever resembled this “plastic folder.” Luckily that really narrowed down his options since so many other things were either for writing or decoration. He quickly skidded to a stop in front of the paper folders, only to see right next to them harder, plastic ones that stuck out like funny triangles.

“Found it!” he announced. He wasn’t able to reach them, they were too high up. One day , he would be tall, he swore it…

“Good job, buddy!” his dad said as he joined his son. “Alright, which color ya’ wantin’?”

“Red.”

“Right, right, always gotta double check, though.”

As Jim flipped through a few for the right size, Keith realized something: Lance surely needed school supplies, too, right? Of course right. And he was still confused by a lot of things in the world, like how you can’t talk during “Wild Kratts” no matter how cool it was or else you’ll miss the cool stuff and that Keith is the fastest big wheel driver on the block. He was sorry, but he didn’t make the rules, it was just how it was. Anyway, he didn't remember Lance mentioning anything about school (or at least he didn't understand what he was saying in regards to it) so he probably needed supplies, as well. Keith had to make sure his puddin' pop was well taken care of.

“Dad, wait!” Keith said. “We need a blue one, too!”

“Blue?” he replied. “I thought you liked red best?”

“I do, but we should get another one. One that’s blue.”

“Says on yer list, here, ya’ only need one, so we’re only gettin’ one. Whatcha need two for, huh?”

“For Lance.”

“For Lance?” Keiko repeated, having joined them sans a Takashi. That was fine by Keith, his older step brother was holding them back and only wanted all black school supplies which was boring… but also kind of cool, Keith could privately admit that. Maybe he would get a few of his school things in black, too.

“Why does Lance need a binder?” Keiko then clarified her question to the young boy.

“For school!” Honestly, these adults needed to catch up. “If I’m goin’ to school, then so’s Lance since we’re best friends an’ all, so’s he’s gotta have a binder, too, and he likes blue so we need ta’ get ‘im a blue binder. I know I’m still grounded from playin’ with ‘im, but I gots ta’ at least still show ‘im I’m thinkin’ ‘bout ‘im in these hard times!”

Keiko and his father just stared at Keith at if he were the crazy one. What was so crazy about wanting to help possibly the most important person in your young life, huh? It was definitely the two of them being crazy, especially considering they then started to poke at each other while pointing at Keith and making weird faces until finally Keith’s dad stepped forward taking a knee in front of him. His face made it look like he was about to lay down some heavy stuff. Keith made sure to be attentive.

“Keith,” he began, a firm hand landing on his son’s shoulder to ground him. That was a bad sign. “Lance, um… Lance is four and yer five, ‘member?”

Keith nodded.

“Which means, son, he, uh… he ain’t gonna be startin’ kindergarten ‘til a whole year from now.”

-

_I miss the look of surrender in your eyes_

_The way your soft brown hair would fall_

_I miss the power of your kiss when we made love_

_Oh But baby most of all_

_I miss my friend_

“Jim, I get that Keith is… grieving,” Keiko practically hissed to her husband, “but I really don’t think that that song is in any way appropriate for him! Where did he find it?”

“My collection,” Jim whispered. “Don’t worry, he don’t get what they’re talkin’ ‘bout, anyway. An’ you wanna talk appropriate, just lookit the boy! Covered in cheese puff dust, with only his tears clearin’ his chubby cheeks. His sadness is the most inappropriate thing in this here house, I won’t stand fer it!”

“He’s not being held back a year just because Lance won’t be in his class!”

“But lookit mah baby, Baby! He’s so saaaaaad…”

Keith was starting to wonder if his father and step mother knew he could hear everything they were discussing since they were right outside his door, or were counting on him being in a cheese puff country music induced haze of depression to not notice them. He kind of was, since this was probably the worst thing that could have ever happened to him, ever, but he was also trying to figure out how to make the situation work. He was a stubborn child, yes, but he was also aware that sometimes you can’t change things in life. One of them was age. And if you had to be five to be in kindergarten, it may have been a highly oppressive system rule that should be questioned, but in the meantime there was nothing to be done.

Grabbing another handful of cheese puffs, Keith stuffed them in his mouth and realized he had to admit defeat. It was bad enough he still had three days until he could see Lance, he refused to spend it reflecting on the fact that in another two weeks he wouldn’t be able to see the other boy for hours a day multiple days a week.

“Keith?” he heard his dad hesitantly say from his doorway. “How’s about you, ya’ know… stop eating cheese puffs and come downstairs? Maybe take a bath?”

Keith slowly sat up, cheese puffs that had missed his mouth and fallen onto his shirt scattering all over his bed and the floor.

“Yeah, okay,” he answered.

“Yeah?” His dad seemed shocked.

“Yeah.” Sighing, Keith hopped off his bed and went over to hug his dad for some much needed comfort. “I figure it ain’t worth crying over anymore ‘cause I can’t change Lance’s age, right?”

“Yup, sad fact of the world, buddy.”

“Yeah. So I was thinkin’ that I’ll just hafta make sure I pay good attention in school so’s I can come home and teach Lance all the stuff I learned. That way he won’t feel left out!”

“That’s a really great idea, Keith!” Keiko praised as she joined in on the little group hug. “I’m sure Lance will be thrilled to hear all about your day at kindergarten.”

Finally smiling again, Keith pulled back and wipe some cheese dust from his face. “Uh huh! Me an’ Hunk will be the best teachers ever!”

The two adults started doing that weird thing they had done at the store again. Only this time it was much faster and Keiko ended up on the bent knee with her hand on Keith’s shoulder.

“… Hunk is the same age as Lance… I’m so sorry.”

Keith returned to his cave and switched to Reba McEntire for the next hour. His family didn’t disturb him.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How 'bout that year difference, huh? I had always thought there was a year difference, it makes sense. Now have a chapter pertaining to it!
> 
> SO! Did a Big Bang fic which that, along with moving, took up most of my time hence the radio silence. It's a Klance with the wonderfully typical fake wedding trope, but this time on a reality tv show because that is my anti drug, with a touch of angst. Also with art by the wonderful PookELucy! It's called Cold Feet if any of y'all are interested since MAN there have been so many fics posted lately, it keeps getting bumped down super fast! Not complaining too much because yes to lots of fic, and yeah it's not finished but I got it finished in my folder. :)
> 
> Next chapter is the end of Keith's sentence and the return of Lance... and BETRAYAL.


	6. Unexpected Lance POV Complete with Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lookit here, a Christmas chapter. Have some art, too, to celebrate!
> 
> http://sweet-rabbit.tumblr.com/post/168797208308/gaining-social-competence-update-it-is-not-stated
> 
> NOTE: As this is Lance POV, assume everything that is said/said to him is in Spanish... with a few exceptions that are stated. Enjoy!

_That’s the jingle bell,_

_That’s the jingle bell,_

_That’s the jingle bell rock~!_

As the last word was dragged out, Lance fell onto his butt giggling hysterically. His mother and him had been dancing with big silly sunglasses on that had little decorations for Christmas all over them, and Mama had been especially funny with her sweater jingling and trying not to spill her cup of eggnog. Lance didn’t know what eggnog was and thought it sounded gross, by the way, but Mama sure seemed to like it and always told him to respect other people’s food choices so it was fine. Anyway, the song was finished and was quickly going into the next one making Lance jump right back up.

“Mama!” he exclaimed. “Mama, let’s dance more! I wanna keep dancing!”

“Go ahead then,” his mother laughed. “But Mama needs a break, okay? There’s still a lot of decorations Uncle Alfor has so we need to help set them up.”

As he was four years old, this information quickly distracted him from his previous wish to dance all night long to the Christmas music that he, admittedly, barely understood. See, he was supposed to be learning English and he really liked that since his teacher was super nice and he always felt really smart when he went. He was really good at remembering the words for stuff like animals, especially underwater ones, and was also getting the hang of making sentences, too. There were still a lot of English he didn’t understand and it got super frustrating sometimes, but luckily he had two really cool friends who were able to get what he meant when they played together. Hunk was better at it, though he could tell that Keith tried really hard, too.

Anyway, the point was that the music they were listening to was all in English and since Christmas didn’t have much to do with animals (though he did learn what a “reindeer” was!) Lance wasn’t quite getting what was being said. At least the songs had a good beat that he could dance to. But then again, decorating…

“No longer in the mood to groove, buddy?” Alex, one of Lance’s older brothers asked as he walked by with a small box.

“Mmmm,” Lance hummed. “No, I wanna help decorate now. Please?”

“Yeah, of course you can help! Here, you can take this.” At that, Alex handed the small box down to his little brother, who very cautiously cradled it in his arms with wide eyes. “Be careful with it, okay? It won’t break, but we don’t want to mess it up. You can go set it up on the coffee table in front of the couch, got it?”

“Yes!”

Lance started to rush, but then remembered his instructions and slowed down while keeping a careful eye on the box. Once at the table, he set it down on the floor and took the lid off. Inside was a pretty set of the three kings with their gifts, all sparkling from reflections of the multicolored lights hung around all over the living room. Lance grinned at being given the responsibility of putting up the set and quickly got to work as the music went on around him.

_You better watch out,_

_You better not cry,_

_You better not pout I’m telling you why_

_Santa Claus is coming to town~_

As he picked up two of the kings, Lance paused. He caught a few words from that bit of the song, like “why” and “town” and of course the pronouns, but the biggest one that suddenly stood out to him was “Santa Claus.” He knew who that was, he was all over TV and was at the mall the other day and was supposed to give kids presents.

Except…

Weren’t the Three Kings supposed to give the presents?

They went to church on Christmas from what he remembered and was told (it’s why they were at the mall, he had to get a new nice outfit for the holidays and yes, his mama said he looked very handsome in it, thank you), but he didn’t remember getting presents the same day. It was always a little after that. So what was up with this Santa guy?

He knew how to find out, luckily. After putting the last piece of the set together to try to make it look more like a battle scene, Lance sprung up and rushed back over to where his Mama was putting garland over the mantle place.

“Mama!” he yelled, tugging on her sweater. “Mama, Mama, Mama! I got a question, Mama!”

“And I hear you very clearly, Lancey Lance,” she said, “but you need to be patient first.”

Lance bit his lip in frustration, but did as he was told. Slapping his hands over his mouth, he proceeded to hop around in place doing his Patient Dance as his mother finished hanging the garland. Except then his two more of his older siblings, Gabby and Jaime, had to butt in complaining about an ornament Jaime wanted to put up.

“I made it in school, therefore it’s special!” Jaime was angrily explaining to their mother. “She’s trying to censor me!”

“I am not!” Gabby protested. “I am just saying for the sake of our tree that having that, that… DEAD SQUIRREL hanging on it would completely distract from the rest of the tree’s actual beauty. It’s just a SUGGESTION that he burn it, is all.”

“What, like your ornaments are so much better than mine? Mine have a statement to be made that is more than just ‘lookit me, I’m pretty!’ like the rest of this parade of consumer funded holiday cheer!”

“Oh stop acting like you actually believe any of what you’re saying, you can’t be taken seriously when you have a Rudolph nose and antlers on!”

That prompted Jaime to put Gabby in a headlock to try and knoogie her with his Rudolph nose, a fate Lance feared but couldn’t be bothered to be empathetic to while still dancing to keep from exploding. He also had to make sure he remembered his question, he didn’t want to forget it, so he started to mumble it behind his hands over and over again.

“Both of you knock it off, I will not have you ruining your Aunt and Uncle’s house by polluting it with your sass!” Mama yelled, while expertly tugging the two apart. “Jaime, Gabby is right your ornament is disgusting, but since it’s Christmas I’m being generous. Just, I don’t know… roll it in glitter, or something!”

“Can do,” Jaime saluted.

“And Gabby, lay off the glitter.”

“What?! Never!” Gabby looked horrified. Lance agreed with her, but had no time to stop and say so.

“Do it, I’m sick of the mess! Now hug it out like siblings who love each other and don’t embarrass their mother.” While the two rather playfully kept air-hugging, Mama took a big gulp of eggnog before turning to Lance and grabbing his head to stop his wiggling. “Good job at being patient, Lance. You can ask your question now.”

Squealing happily, Lance latched his arms in a big hug around his mama’s waist while looking up at her and asked, “How come Santa doesn’t visit our house?”

There was a weird moment of silence before Gabby and Jaime started laughing hysterically at something. Lance wasn’t sure what it was that was so funny, but his mama did have a strange look on her face like the time she found half of Lance’s wrestling toys in the toilet (they were at the spa, they needed a break after winning their last big match).

“Yeah, Mama!” Jaime crowed. “How come?”

“Don’t you have a dead squirrel to burry in glitter?” Mama hissed through a tight grin.

At that, Gabby began to shove Jaime away, both still chuckling at whatever joke Lance didn’t hear. He’d have to try to remember to ask later, there were more important matters at hand.

“Well,” Mama slowly began, her eyes looking all over the place for something. “You see, America is uh… really big, right?”

“Right!” He was shown a map of it before they moved, he was quite impressed that it was even bigger than Mexico.

“So, Santa, you see, has trouble keeping track of all of the kids and just, um, ends up running out of presents for the other kids who don’t live in America. And! And you see, we’re still really new here so we’re not on the list yet. So that’s where the Three Kings come in! They deliver presents to the kids that Santa missed! Does, uh, that make sense?”

Lance could only stare in shock up at his mother as he slowly nodded his head.

-/-/-

The revelation that Lance wasn’t important enough for Santa Claus kept reverberating through his head, even as he held onto his Papa’s hand while they made their way up to Keith’s house hours later that day. The Kogane family was having an evening Christmas party which had sounded exciting for a long time, but then only rang hollow. How could Lance enjoy Christmas candy and food if the son of the family holding it was going to get presents sooner than Lance was?

Why was KEITH so important that Santa remembered him and not Lance?

Or worse, what if Santa gave more presents than the Three Kings? Then what would Lance do?!

“You want to ring the doorbell, Lance?” his papa asked him. Lance could only shake his head in response, which made Papa continue, “Are you feeling okay? Do you feel sick?”

“No,” Lance sighed out. “I’m sorry, I’ll be good.”

“You’re fine, Lance, you haven’t done anything wrong! But tell me or Mama if you start to feel sick, alright?”

With a pat on the head, Papa knocked on the door which was quickly opened up by Keith’s dad as if he was waiting there. Lance didn’t bother listening to them talk, and instead made his way inside with all of his other family and his mama. He didn’t make it too far, though, because Keith quickly appeared in front of him in the hallway.

Lance stopped and looked at his friend. Keith usually was pretty messy and didn’t bother worrying about if he’d ripped his clothes or not so tended to always have the knees in his pants torn or something like that. That evening, though, it looked like he had been shoved into a vaguely Christmas sweater complete with a collared shirt underneath it and khaki pants. Lance was impressed.

But still frustrated.

Keith made to grab Lance’s hand and was pointing to something behind him. However, Lance instead quickly turned away and followed his mother into the kitchen, leaving his friend behind. He admittedly felt a bit guilty as Keith seemed confused, but huffed it away when remembering Keith would be comforted by Santa and his probably millions of gifts that didn’t involve Lance.

Either way, he still heard Keith trot along after him, calling his name. Lance tried not to roll his eyes. Couldn’t Keith see that Lance was annoyed with him?

“Lance,” his mama started, “don’t you want to go play with Keith? Us grownups are just going to be talking about boring stuff you won’t be interested in.”

“I want a tamale,” Lance mumbled.

“It’s not time for dinner. Go on, go play with Keith, I’m sure Hunk will be here soon, too!”

Lance looked down at his shoes, trying to pretend he didn’t notice Keith’s shoes squeaking as he shuffled around awkwardly. Admittedly it was weird having Keith like that, the other boy frequently seemed to like showing off to Lance by jumping from high up places and swinging his sword around like he was fighting stuff. Lance won’t lie, it was pretty cool. Keith was cool.

But also a filthy present hog!

Just remembering that made Lance’s cheek puff out in aggression but he promised himself he would behave so as not to upset his parents. Besides, he still wanted presents on Three Kings Day, it would ruin his chances.

Then again, it was really hard to not be upset about the idea of being forgotten. Why didn’t Santa brings presents to other kids? Why did the Three Kings have to pick up his slack? It wasn’t fair and kind of hurt Lance’s feelings, honestly. He knew it wasn’t fair to take it out on Keith, he just couldn’t stop being jealous and it was starting to upset him to the point where he could feel tears start up.

“Oh no, Lance?” His mama quickly knelt down in front of him, Keith’s mother also coming around to see if she could help while Keith himself scurried away, for some reason. “Lance, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“Because,” Lance choked out, only to have to stop talking to take in a huge gulp of air before he began wailing. He felt himself being picked up and quickly wrapped his arms tightly around his mother’s neck as he continue to bawl. As his mama rubbed his back and kissed his head, Lance continued through hiccups, “Be-Because Santa doesn’t li-ike me!”

Despite his crying, he could feel his mother stiffen up after he said that. Pulling away a bit, she wiped away a few tears from his cheeks and asked, “Do you think that because of what I told you today?”

Lance nodded miserably.

“Oh no, my poor baby,” she chuckled, but Lance could tell she was also a bit upset. At his confused expression she continued. “I’m so sorry, Lancey Lance, I wasn’t clear at all, was I? Santa doesn’t hate you, nobody could hate you! You’re such a sweet little boy who gives me the best hugs in the world, of course Santa likes you.”

“Then-Then why doesn’t he want to give me presents?”

Mrs. Kogane handed Lance’s mama a few tissues which she used to wipe some of the snot off of his face as she spoke. “Well… it’s just because there are so many children, like how there are so many children at our house, right?” Lance nodded. “So sometimes when there are so many, it’s just hard to keep up with everybody. The Three Kings are, well, there to help Santa! Santa hates to not give everybody a present, so he has them to come along to help him later, yeah?”

Lance supposed that that made more sense. His house did have a lot of people, while Keith’s house only had four. And they did still get to eat a lot of good food on Christmas that they didn’t normally eat. That was fun.

As he was starting to calm down a bit, Keith suddenly ran back into the kitchen with his arms behind his back. Mrs. Kogane noticed and hid a smile behind her hand before saying something to Mama while pointing at the boys.

“Lance?” Mama quietly said as she rubbed his cheek. “I think Keith has something he wants to give you.”

Lance looked over his shoulder to get a better look at his friend and saw his shuffling his feet around and kind of glaring at the wall. He usually did that when he wanted something but was too embarrassed to ask for some reason, so Hunk most of the time would be the one to try to get him to talk. Sometimes Lance would, too, but he would do it by tickling Keith.

This time, though, he instead made to get off his mother’s lap before she gently set him down and made his way over to the nervous boy.

“What?” Lance asked in English as he stared at Keith.

Keith whipped his head forward to face Lance as his eyebrows furrowed together, a sure sign of his determination of the situation. Lance wasn’t sure what was so serious about what was going on, then again Keith tended to be weird like that. Lance still liked him, though, most of the time.

“For you!” Keith yelled out while thrusting a poorly wrapped present to Lance that was heavy in the tape department.

Confused and a little overwhelmed with everything, Lance cautiously pointed to the gift then to himself to double check he understood correctly. Keith nodded so hard it was amazing his head didn’t fly off. Lance could feel his heart swell up in happiness at this. Keith, the one Lance had been mad at for getting more attention from Santa than him, was giving Lance a present instead? He wasn’t quite sure what to do then.

“Lance?” his mama spoke up behind him. “Keith is giving you a present. Don’t you want to unwrap it and see what it is?”

That was what he should do, of course! Mama was so smart.

Taking her advice, Lance snatched the present out of Keith’s hands and plopped himself on the floor. It took a few tries, but he eventually found a spot that wasn’t covered in tape and tore at it with all of his might, then clawed at the other loosened parts of the paper before the gift inside came tumbling out onto Lance’s lap.

At first it just looked like a blue, heavy tube thing but when Lance picked it up he started to take in the details and gasped in realization: it was a shark! It was a little lumpy and kind of weird looking, but it was definitely a shark! Keith then started to nervously say stuff that Lance couldn’t understand. Luckily he knew to point to help Lance out, making it so he could notice the little teeth in the mouth that looked really real and even super pointy and sharp. He then puffed out his chest and pointed his thumb at himself, while still looking kind of embarrassed and sweaty.

“He says he made it himself!” Mama helpfully translated.

Lance was stunned, to say the least.

Keith had definitely spent a lot of time on this present, it really showed not only how talented an artist he was but also how much he cared about Lance. Lance started to feel even more guilty then, in that he also didn’t have something to give Keith back. Surely there was some way to show how happy he was?

He supposed the best way would be how he thanked most of his family whenever they gave him presents, only this time with a little Christmas flare, of course.

After gently handing the shark statue to his mama for safe guarding, Lance took Keith’s hand and started to tug him around the house. He figured with how many decorations were up (still not nearly as many as at his aunt and uncle’s house, though) there was sure to be some of that stuff around there somewhere…

“Found it!” he shouted out as they entered the living room. Sure enough, in the arch way that lead to the hallway entrance, hung a sprig of mistletoe, perfect for giving Keith his thank you kiss for the present! Except it was currently occupied by his cousin, Allura, and Keith’s brother. And they weren’t even doing anything! The two were just standing there, blushing and not looking at each other like two dorks. Didn’t they ever watch TV?

“Don’t worry, Keith,” Lance said over his shoulder even though he knew Keith didn’t understand him. “I’ll take care of this!”

Lance proceed to shove Allura out of the way, making Takashi jump back in surprise.

“Lance!” Allura exclaimed. “You’re being rude!”

“You were taking too long!” Lance countered. “How long does it take to kiss someone?!”

“Whu-What?! No, I, you’re wrong, see, that wasn’t, I wouldn’t, with-with everyone here and, uh, HA! Ha ha, just, I-I can’t… No.”

Deciding that Allura’s ramblings were unimportant, Lance turned around and to see Keith had dutifully followed after him like the puppy he never had. With a smile, Lance maneuvered Keith around until the two were directly under the mistletoe, then threw his arms around the other boy’s neck and planted the biggest kiss on Keith’s cheek making sure to make the loudest SMACK! sound he could so show how thankful he was for his present.

“Thank you, Keith,” he then quietly said in the best English he could manage.

Keith just looked at him for a moment, a little surprised obviously before responding, “De-De nada, Lance.”

Lance gasped having never heard Keith speak Spanish before. He couldn’t contain his giddiness anymore and let his feet happy dance all they wanted while he still held onto Keith. His friend just smiled and kept his hands on Lance’s arms to make sure he didn’t bounce away into something while all of the adults around then laughed at the cute little scene.

-/-/-

It was Christmas morning, and Lance was quick to wake up and hop out of bed. Only something stopped him. Before he could throw off his covers, he noticed a present at the end of his bed. Crawling over to it, he looked at the colorful package and saw a tag that had some writing on it, but most importantly had the letters S-A-N-T-A printed, too.

Jumping up with gift in hand, Lance tore down the hallway shouting, “Mama! Papa! Lookit, look, Santa came last night! Look!”

Leaning out of the hallway bathroom, his mama and papa both looked like they hadn’t been awake long, but Lance was too excited to pay it much attention. Or to the groaning coming from the surrounding bedrooms and the fact that the sun wasn’t up just yet. Who cared, all that mattered at that time was that Lance wasn’t forgotten by Santa!

“Oh?” his papa more yawned than actually said. “You got a present? Wow, Santa really must have come last night!”

His mama and papa joined him on the hallway floor, his papa giving Mama a playful nudge for some reason, while his other siblings and family members slowly meandered out of their rooms to see what the commotion was about.

“Uh huh!” Lance excitedly said. “And there’s a note, too, but I can’t read it. Mama, could you read it for me, please?”

“Alright, sweet boy,” she said as she picked up the letter. “Hm, it says, ‘Dear Lance, I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to give you or your family all of their gifts today. I promise that the Three Kings will come with everything else for everybody, so in the meantime enjoy this small present while you wait. Santa.’”

Lance’s feet kicked happily on the floor. A personal letter from Santa to him!

“Come on, Lancey Lance,” his other sister, Veronica, mumbled. “You got everybody up this early, so hurry up and show us what Santa gave you.”

Grinning at her from upside down, Lance turned back and made quick work of the shiny wrapping paper, revealing a blue toy blaster gun from Keith, Hunk and his’ favorite action cartoon, the same one Keith’s Flaming Sword was from. Lance happily hugged the box to his chest in glee, squealing and still kicking his feet.

His mama laughed and playfully grabbed at his pajama covered footsies before saying, “Remember we got church first, okay? We need to get some breakfast and get dressed before we can play.”

“That’s okay!” Lance said. “I think I wanna wait to play with it anyway.”

“Do you not like it?” Papa asked, a little confused understandably.

“No, I love it! It’s the coolest present ever! I just… I want to wait to let Keith play with it first.”

His parents laughed while patting his head while all his siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents walked over or past them to get to the kitchen for some breakfast. Lance, however, got up and instead went back to his room. Standing up on his tip toes, he carefully placed the box on the desk in the room, making sure it was neatly placed next to the shark statue Keith had made him.

-/-/-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this is based off of what a coworker/friend told me when she asked her mother this (she is Mexican, yes). Needless to say she took it a hell of a lot better than Lance.
> 
> Anyway it was fun to write Lance, I tend to write Keith how I think so I wrote Lance how I act with all of the happy feet dancing and stuff. It was fun, as was writing his family. And Keith's family is fun to write, too. Fuck I just love me some family shit. Hope y'all have a good time with your family and friends this season/upcoming year, it's sure to be a better year than this one!

**Author's Note:**

> Translations thanks so yisusfishus:
> 
> “No vayas a ensuciarte mientras juegas, no quiero tener que volver a bañarte, okay?” (essentially but not quite) Don’t get too dirty over there, I don’t want to have to give you a bath, okay?
> 
> "... Qué?" (... What?)


End file.
